Sunday newspaper round-up: US protests, forever chemicals, Jamie Dimon, Chinese espionage, Andrew Bailey, influencer marketing,

(Sharecast News) - Americans across all 50 states marched in protests against the Trump administration on Saturday, aligning behind a message that the country is sliding into authoritarianism and there should be no kings in the US. Millions of people turned out for the No Kings protests, the second iteration of a coalition that marched in June in one of the largest days of protest in US history. People in communities big and small came together natonwide with signs, marching bands, a huge banner with the US Constitution's preamble that people could sign, and inflatable costumes, particularly frogs, which have emerged as a sign of resistance beginning in Portland, Oregon. The rallies are a turnaround from just six months ago, when Democrats seemed at a loss as to how to counter Republicans' grip of the White House and both houses of Congress after stinging national election losses. - Guardian

Regulators measuring "forever chemicals" near a Lancashire chemicals plant are not testing for a substance made by the company itself, despite evidence it could be reprotoxic and is being emitted in large volumes. Reprotoxic means a substance can be damaging to a person's sexual function, fertility, or their child's development and now, independent sampling has found the substance in soils around the factory. Pfas, or forever chemicals, are a large group of manmade substances used in a wide range of consumer products, firefighting foams and industrial processes. They do not break down easily and therefore build up in the environment, water, wildlife and human bodies. Scientists have linked some Pfas (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) to cancers, hormone disruption, immune system effects and other health risks. - Guardian

The frenzied stock market sell-off that gripped the US and UK this week was fuelled by fear as much as fact. Investors saw what could easily be the tip of an iceberg, and nobody knows quite what lies beneath. Two car parts suppliers with multibillion-dollar debts in the private credit market have gone bust amid allegations of fraud, and two regional US banks have uncovered a clutch of irredeemably bad loans. But with Jamie Dimon, the JPMorgan boss, earlier warning that more "cockroaches" might scuttle out of the $3tn (£2.2tn) black box that is the private credit market, many investors weren't prepared to wait and see if these were one-off problems. - Telegraph

One of the suspects in the Chinese espionage case was carrying a "suitcase full of cash" when he was stopped by police under terrorism laws after flying into Heathrow from China. Christopher Berry, 33, an academic from Witney, Oxfordshire, was discovered with £4,000 when he was intercepted at the airport on February 2023, almost six weeks before he was formally arrested on suspicion of spying for China. The money is believed to have been given to him by his Chinese intelligence handler, known only as "Alex", according to sources familiar with the case. It is unclear whether the cash was retained by police, or what currency it was in. Berry was the subject of a port stop under Schedule 3 Counter Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019, which is used by police when there is suspicion of "hostile activity" involving a foreign state. His phone and laptop were taken by officers and later revealed his connection to Chris Cash, 30, a parliamentary researcher from Edinburgh, who was also accused of spying for China, as well as a person assessed to be a Chinese intelligence agent. - The Times

Andrew Bailey has warned that the economic impacts of Brexit will be negative "for the foreseeable future" in the strongest intervention yet by the governor of the Bank of England on the consequences of Britain's exit from the EU. He said that he was careful not to give a personal view on Brexit, and that it was his job as a public official to implement the decision "taken by the people of the UK". "But if you ask me what the impact is on economic growth, I do have to answer that question as a public official," he said. "And the answer is that, for the foreseeable future, it is negative, but over the longer time there should be a positive, albeit partial, counterbalance." - The Times

Prince Andrew insisted that his sexual abuse accuser, Virginia Giuffre, agree to a one-year gag order to avoid undermining Queen Elizabeth II's platinum jubilee in 2022, her memoirs have revealed. Andrew relinquished the use of his titles and honours on Friday, including his Duke of York title, after facing mounting pressure from King Charles following the long-lasting Epstein scandal. In her posthumous memoir released next Tuesday, Ms Giuffre exposes details of further attention on the allegations of abuse against the disgraced prince and his relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. - The Independent

The government has forked out nearly £115,000 for "influencer marketing" in less than a year, despite pledges to cut wasteful spending. The Conservatives have said the spend "makes a mockery" of Labour's pledge after Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said the cash had supported "multiple campaigns" since the creation of a new government communications unit at the start of this year. It comes after the prime minister hosted a reception for online content creators over the summer, and Downing Street hailed the "content creators shaping Britain". - The Independent

Donald Trump touted his triumph in securing a ceasefire in Gaza, threatened to send troops into more US cities and confirmed CIA covert operations in Venezuela at a meandering Oval Office press conference last week. Flanked by attorney general Pam Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel, the US president urged his chief law enforcement officers to "look into" a new list of political enemies, the latest targets in a campaign of retribution for what he dubbed "the worst weaponisation of a political opponent in the history of the world". At around the same time on Wednesday, a group of anxious Senate Republicans met Trump's trade representative, Jamieson Greer, to discuss the impact of the president's trade war with China. The Republicans demanded to know why the White House had agreed a $40bn bailout for Argentina last week, when US farmers are struggling with the fallout from Trump's flagship tariff policy and a standoff with Beijing. The parallel meetings underscored a disconnect between the White House and Republicans in Congress and the first hairline cracks of dissent emerging in Trump's total control of his party. - The Observer

Allwyn has been lucky since it became the National Lottery operator 18 months ago. The EuroMillions lottery numbers have delivered four jackpot rollovers, an unusually high number. Rollovers drive ticket sales and Allwyn International listed "favourable jackpot cycles" in EuroMillions as one of the primary reasons why its revenues rose by 14% year-on-year in its September accounts. Last week, Allwyn rode that luck by announcing a merger with Opap, a Greek gaming firm, to become the second largest gambling company globally with a valuation of £13.8bn. - The Observer